scapegoating

When touring the Museum of Tolerance Holocaust exhibit, you see the various ways the Nazi’s tried to dehumanize the Jews and others. Blaming the Jews for Germany’s woes after World War I was a long process. It didn’t just happen overnight. The amazing thing is we are talking about less than 1% of the population. That’s how many Jews were in Germany. It doesn’t take a large group of people to become a scapegoat for everything.

After the Holocaust, small groups of people would necessarily be wary of how any society would look at them. Perhaps they would go out of their way to try to make sure they are treated with respect and dignity by the dominate culture in as many ways as possible.

I think this is some of the thinking behind the “gay rights” movement today. According to recent studies, adults who identify exclusively as homosexual are about 1 to 1.5% of the population of America. Yet, there are times when you hear some extreme things being said about them. As if the ills of American culture are in some part due to the homosexual behavior of some of her citizens.

Whether you think homosexual behavior is unhealthy and a sin or not, you can understand why those who identify as homosexual would be very sensitive to any rhetoric they sense is dehumanizing in any way. I don’t agree with many of the tactics and methodology of “gay rights” advocacy groups, but I understand their passion and urgency. It wasn’t long ago, those who were identified with a pink triangle patch were put on those trains and sent to the camps in Europe only later to be murdered.

True tolerance is respect and courtesy toward another, though you disagree with them. Those who are on all sides of this topic would do well to remember this.